The Global Eye – Friends (1)

Oraib Al Rantawi. Founder and General Director of the Think Tank Al Quds Center for Political Studies (1999-Present) Amman- Beirut; Columnist at the Jordanian Daily Newspaper Ad-Dustour (1995-Present); Produced and presented political talk shows for Jordan TV; Member of the Higher Council for Media (2001 –2004); Submitted Hundreds of Articles Studies Published in Numerous Newspapers, Magazines and Books; Participates regularly in talk shows for numerous regional and international radio stations, and TV channels; Author and Editor of Several Books on the Palestinian Cause, Conflicts in the Middle East, Democratic Reform the Arab World.

Mark Beeson is Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia. Before joining UWA, he taught at Murdoch, Griffith, Queensland, York (UK) and Birmingham, where he was also head of department. He is the founding editor of Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific. His most recent books are Rethinking Global Governance, Palgrave, forthcoming; Regionalism and Globalization in East Asia: Politics, Security and Economic Development, 2nd Edition, Palgrave, 2014;China’s Regional Relations: Evolving Foreign Policy Dynamics, (with Fujian Li), Lynne Rienner, 2014.

Jón Danielsson is Director of the ESCR founded Systemic Risk Centre at the London School of Economics. He received his PhD in economics from Duke University, where his dissertation focussed on stochastic volatility. His research interests include systemic risk, financial risk forecasting and financial regulations. Jón has written two books, Financial Risk Forecasting and Global Financial Systems: Stability and Risk and published a number of articles in leading academic journals.

Fatim-Zohra El Malki is a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. She was previously a researcher on Islam and Politics at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center in Washington DC. She holds Masters degrees in Arab Studies from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (2016) and in Security Studies from Queen’s University of Belfast (2013). Fatim-Zohra’s research focuses on counter-terrorism cooperation as well as law and institution making in the Maghreb region.

Ron Huisken. Adjunct Associate Professor, SDSC, ANU. Ron Huisken joined the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre, ANU, in 2001 where he focussed, in particular, on US and Chinese security policies , multilateral security processes in East Asia and arms control. Dr Huisken spent nearly 20 years in government with the departments of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Defence, and Prime Minister & Cabinet. Prior to government, he worked with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the University of Malaya, and the United Nations secretariat in New York. He holds degrees in economics from the University of Western Australia and the Royal Stockholm University, and a PhD in international relations from the ANU.

Armine Ishkanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE). She is also the Programme Director of the MSc in International Social and Public Policy and an associate member of the LSE’s International Inequalities Institute. Her research examines how civil society organisations and social movements engage in policy processes and transformative politics in a number of countries including Armenia, Egypt, Greece, and the UK. She is the author of the book Democracy Building and Civil Society in Post-Soviet Armenia (2008) and numerous peer reviewed academic articles.

Ivailo Izvorski is a lead economist in the office of the Senior Director, Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment Global Practice of the World Bank. Prior to this position, Ivailo was the manager of the World Bank economists working on Eastern and Central Europe and Turkey, and before that on Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. Before joining the Bank, Ivailo worked for the Institute of International Finance and the IMF. Ivailo is one of the authors of Diversified Development: Making the Most of Natural Resources in Eurasia, Reinvigorating Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Resource-Rich Countries, and other reports and articles. He holds a PhD in Economics from Yale University.

Ali Jarbawi is a political scientist at Birzeit University and a former minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Peter S. Jensen is a Professor at the Department of Business and Economics, University of Southern Denmark. He has published in international journals such as Journal of the European Economic Association, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Growth and Journal of Public Economics. His current research focuses on economic growth and economic history.

Marwan J. Kabalan is theHead of Policy Analysis at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) in Doha, Qatar. He is also chair of the Gulf Studies Forum (GSF) and head of Contemporary Syria Studies at the ACRPS. He is an adjunct professor in public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. Kabalan served as Dean of the Faculty of International Relations and Diplomacy at the University of Kalamoon in Damascus, Syria. He thought International Political Theory at the University of Manchester, UK. He was a member of the board of directors at the Damascus University Center for Strategic Studies and Research.Kabalan’sresearch interests include theory of international politics and foreign and security policy in the Middle East. Select publications include Syrian Foreign Policy and the United States, from Bush to Obama, (eds.) 2009 and Turkey-Syria Relations: Between Enmity and Amity (eds.) 2013. Marwan’s most recent research publication is Qatar Foreign Policy: Elite v. Geography in Arabic (2017).

Fuat Keyman is Director of Istanbul Policy Center and Professor of International Relations at Sabancı University. Keyman is a leading Turkish political scientist and an expert on democratization, globalization, international relations, Turkey – EU relations, Turkish foreign policy, and civil society development. He is a member of the Science Academy. In 2013, he was awarded the Strategic Vision Owner of the Scientific People Award within the scope of the 7th Tasam Strategic Vision Awards. He has worked as a member on the Council of Wise People as part of the Peace Process to the Kurdish issue. He also serves on advisory and editorial boards for a number of respected international and national organizations as well as for academic journals. Prior to joining Sabancı University, Keyman taught in the Department of International Relations at Koç University between 2002 and 2010 and in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Bilkent University between 1994 and 2002. He was also Visiting Professor at Carleton University in the summer of 1997. Keyman holds several post-doctoral fellowships from Wellesley College and Harvard University. He has received numerous prestigious grants from the EU Framework Programme and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. Furthermore, Keyman has been the research director for various projects such as Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington’s Many Globalizations, CIVICUS, and Mapping Civil Society in Turkey. Keyman has conducted the first extensive research project and written copiously on the political and social trends in Turkey, urban transformation, and living together in Anatolian cities. He is the author and editor of more than twenty books, including Istanbul: Living with Difference in a Global City (with Nora Fisher-Onar and Susan C. Pearce, 2018),Turkey, The Arab Spring and Beyond (with Bülent Aras, 2016), Global Turkey in Europe 3: Democracy, Trade, and the Kurdish Question in Turkey-EU Relations (2015), Democracy, Identity and Foreign Policy in Turkey (with Şebnem Gümüşçü, 2014); Global Turkey in Europe 2: Energy, Migration, Civil Society and Citizenship Issues in Turkey-EU Relations (2014); Global Turkey in Europe: Political, Economic, and Foreign Policy Dimensions of Turkey’s Evolving Relationship with the EU (2013); Remaking Turkey (in Turkish, 2013); Symbiotic Antagonisms: Competing Nationalisms in Turkey (with Ayşe Kadıoğlu, 2011); Cities: The Transformation of Anatolia, the Future of Turkey (2010); Competing Nationalism in Turkey (2010), Turkey in a Globalizing World (2010); Remaking Turkey, Globalization, Alternative Modernities and Democracy (2008); Turkish Politics in a Changing World (with Ziya Öniş, 2007), Citizenship in a Global World: European Questions and Turkish Experiences (2005); Changing World, Transforming Turkey (2005). Keyman has also authored numerous articles published in prestigious, peer-reviewed international journals such as Third World Quarterly, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Journal of Democracy, European Journal of Social Theory, Theory Culture & Society, and Review of International Political Economy. He received his PhD in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Carleton University. He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

Vu Minh Khuong is an Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore). His research and teaching concentrate on economic development strategy and policy analysis, with a special focus on Asian economies and their transformation in the fourth industrial revolution. Professor Vu’s research articles have appeared on prestigious international journals, including Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Information Economics and Policy, Telecommunication Policy, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, German Economics Review, Journal of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, China Economics Review, Journal of Contemporary Economic Policy, Energy Policy, Journal of Policy Modeling, Asian Economics Papers,Journal of Economic Policy Reform, and Economics Letters. Professor Vu is the author of two books “The Dynamics of Economic Growth: Policy Insights from Comparative Analyses in Asia” published by Edward Elgar and “Vietnam – the Journey toward Prosperity, published by the Knowledge Publisher.” He is currently working on two book projects: “Economic Catchup Strategy – a Handbook for Policy Makers in Developing Countries” and “Toward ASEAN Economic Community: The Dynamics of Integration, Structural Change, and Productivity Performance”. Dr. Vu is a winner of the 2011 Best Article Award of the Public and Non-Profit Division of the Academy of Management (USA). He also won the LKY School Research Excellence Award in 2012 and the LKY School Annual Teaching Excellence Award in 2009 and 2011. Professor Vu has been an active player in Vietnam’s economic reforms. Before transitioning into academia, Professor Vu had served in the Vietnamese People Army and held various positions in Vietnam’s government, including Deputy Chief of the Haiphong City Government Office, Vice-Chairman of Dinh Vu Economic Zone, and CEO of Song Cam Chemical Company. Elected CEO of the Song Cam Chemical Company by workers in 1988 when the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, he presided over a major turnaround of the business and made it an excellent success. Thanks to this achievement, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1993. Professor Vu is currently a member of the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Team. Professor Vu has provided extensive consulting and advisory services to international organizations and government agencies, including UNIDO, UNDP, IMF, World Bank, IFC, ILO, APO, USAID, KPMG, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), the Financial and Budgetary Committee of Vietnam’s National Assembly, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam. Professor Vu received a BA in Mathematics from Hanoi University (with highest honours) and an MBA and PhD from Harvard University. Prior to his arrival at the Lee Kuan Yew School, he taught at Suffolk University (Boston) and Keio University (Tokyo). He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Telecommunications Policy and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of East Asian Policy.

Daniel C. Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. During a 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Ambassador Kurtzer served as the United States Ambassador to Israel and as the United States Ambassador to Egypt. He was also a speechwriter and member of the Secretary of State George Shultz’s Policy Planning Staff; and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research. Kurtzer is the co-author of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East, co-author of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011, and editor of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He served as a member of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and as an advisor to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. Ambassador Kurtzer earned a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.

Damaris Seleina Parsitau (Ph.D.) is a Sociologist of Religion, Culture and Gender Studies and a thought leader in Girls’ Education, Mentorship and Leadership. She is also the Director of the Institute of Women, Gender and Development Studies (2012-2018) at Egerton University in Kenya, a Centre of excellence in gender research, leadership, mentorship, policy making and advocacy for gender equity and equality in Kenya. Dr Parsitau was recently appointed as a research Associate and visiting fellow at the Women Studies in Religion Programme (WSRP) at Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge MA, Boston, USA. Dr Parsitau is also the immediate former Echidna Global Scholar 2017 at the Brookings Institutions, Centre for Universal Education (CUE), Washington DC, USA where she has been carrying out impactful research on cultural issues impacting Maasai girls’ education in Kenya. Parsitau holds a Ph.D in Religion, Gender and Public Life from (Kenyatta University), an MA in Sociology of Religion (University of Nairobi) and a Bachelor of Arts in History, Egerton University. She is a visiting Research Associate and Fellow at the College of Williams and Mary in Williamsburg, in Virginia USA and the University of South Africa (UNISA) respectively. Parsitau has previously held Visiting Research Fellowships at the University of Cambridge in the UK and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Parsitau has over twenty years’ experience in teaching, research, leadership training and mentorship. She is also well travelled and is highly published in peer reviewed journals and book chapters, with two forthcoming manuscripts. Parsitau has a strong multi-disciplinary background and is well grounded in social science research.

Theodore Pelagidis is professor of economics at the University of Piraeus, Greece. He has also been a NATO scholar at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University; a National Bank of Greece professorial fellow at the London School of Economics; a Fulbright professorial fellow at Columbia University; and served as an external expert in the internal evaluation office at the International Monetary Fund. He received his diploma in economics from Thessaloniki University, Greece; his M.Phil. from Sussex University, U.K.; and his Ph.D from Paris University, France, while serving as an EU SPES researcher. He has also conducted post-doctoral research on the EMU at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University, USA, (1993-94 and 1995-96 as a NATO scholar). He has been and NBG professorial fellow at LSE, UK (2010), and a Fulbright fellow at Columbia University, USA (2010). He has published extensively in professional journals such as, The Journal of Policy Modelling, Cambridge Journal of Economics, International Review of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Studies, The Cato Journal, European Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics, Challenge. The Magazine of Economic Affairs, Industrial Relations, Review of International Studies, Current Politics and Economics of Europe, World Economics, Review of European Economic Policy, Papers in International Political Economy, Economy and Society, International Review of Economics and Business, Cahiers Economiques de Bruxelles, Actualite Economique. Review d’Analyse Economique, etc. He is also co-editor of the Welfare State and Democracy in Crisis, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2001, and co-author of Understanding the Crisis in Greece: From Boom to Bust, MacMillan/Palgrave, 2011 and 2012 2nd revised paperback edition. He is also a co-author of Who’s to Blame for Greece? Austerity in Charge of Saving a Broken Economy, MacMillan Palgrave 2015/2016.

Claude Rakisits is an Honorary Associate Professor in Strategic Studies at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Dr Rakisits has had almost 20 years of experience in the Australian public sector, including in the Departments of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s principal analytical intelligence agency. He was also an advisor to a shadow federal minister for foreign affairs and to a deputy prime minister in Australia. In 2006-2009 he taught international affairs at tertiary institutions in Switzerland. In 2010-2013 he was the academic adviser at the Centre for Strategic and Defence Studies, the senior staff college at the Australian Defence College in Canberra. Dr Rakisits is an Associate with the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He taught there for three years (2015-2017), including a course on peace and security in the Indian Ocean region and Australia-US Alliance. His principal, but certainly not sole, academic interest is Pakistan and Afghanistan, which he has been following for over 30 years. His doctoral thesis was National Integration in Pakistan: The Role of Religion, Ethnicity and the External Environment. His publications and media interviews can be viewed on his consultancy homepage: www.geopolitical-assessments.com

Vessela Tcherneva is ECFR’s Programme Director and Head of ECFR Sofia Office. She is the co-founder of Sofia Platform, a venue for dialogue between members of NGOs, the media, and politics from Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. From 2010 to 2013 she was the spokesperson for the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the political cabinet of Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov. She has been the head of the Bulgarian office of the European Council for Foreign Relations since 2008, as well as programme director for Foreign Policy Studies at the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. Between 2004 and 2006 she was secretary of the International Commission on the Balkans, chaired by former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato. She has been a supervising editor for Foreign Policy Bulgaria magazine since its launch in 2005.

Brendan Thomas-Noone is a Research Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre where he works on national security and technology issues, US defence and foreign policy and Indo-Pacific security. A frequent media contributor, Brendan’s research has appeared in national and international newspapers including The Economist, the Australian Financial Review and The Washington Post. Brendan was formerly a Research Associate in the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute where he worked on nuclear deterrence and policy in Asia, maritime security affairs and Australian defence policy. While at the Lowy Institute he was also an editor and contributor for The Interpreter. Over a five-month period, Brendan previously completed an internship with the Atlantic Council in Washington DC. He holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Master of International Relations from the University of Melbourne. Brendan has also received a Master of Science in Global Politics from the London School of Economic and Political Science.

Piergiorgio Valente is Founder and Managing Partner of the leading Law Firm Valente Associati GEB Partners. He is: Adjunct Professor of EU Tax Law, as well as Tax and Financial Planning at the Link Campus University in Rome; Professor of Taxation of Multinational Enterprises at the Faculty of Political Studies and for the Superior European and Mediterranean Education “Jean Monnet” of the Second University of Studies in Naples; President of the Confédération Fiscale Européenne (CFE), https://www.cfe-eutax.org. [2017-2018]; Chairman of the International Tax Committee of the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes(IAFEI), [2012-present]; Bureau Member of the Taxation and Fiscal Policy Committee of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD, [2010-present]; Italian Representative of Confindustria with the Tax Policy Working Group of BUSINESSEUROPE, [1997-present]; National Lead Coordinator for “International Tax Relations – EU Observatory – Taxation Area” of CNDCEC (Dottori Commercialisti), [2015-present]; Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of San Marino [2013-present]; CFE Representative to the Platform for Tax Good Governance, Aggressive Tax Planning and Double Taxation of the European Commission [2013-2016; 2016-2019]; Author of 15 volumes, co-author of more than 25 books; Over 500 articles published.